106 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



later years to verify his geological deductions and to find mate- 

 rials for his work on echinoderms. 



At the age of n, Agassiz engaged in classical studies at the 

 College of Bienne, and afterwards was a student for two years 

 at the Academy of Lausanne. In 1824 he entered the Medical 

 School of Zurich where two additional years were spent. Hav- 

 ing been encouraged in his natural history studies by the 

 zoologist Schinz, according to the custom of the time he left 

 Zurich and entered the University of Heidelberg, where he 

 studied physiology and anatomy under Tiedeman, zoology under 

 Leuckart, and botany under Bischoff. At this time Alexander 

 Braun was studying at Heidelberg, and an intimate friendship 

 was formed between the two young men, Braun inviting Agassiz 

 to his home during the summer vacations. To this charming 

 home, most delightfully situated at Carlsruhe, many naturalists 

 and other men of learning were attracted, and by the intimate 

 intercourse with those who like himself were engaged in the 

 study of nature, and by comparison of investigations made, 

 Agassiz broadened his own views, and laid the foundations for 

 his future work. With Braun and Schimper, Agassiz spent the 

 years from 1827 to 1830 at the University of Munich, continuing 

 his medical studies and mainly occupied with zoological investi- 

 gations. These three men formed the nucleus of a company of 

 young scientists who organized a society called the " Little 

 Academy of Sciences," where each gave lectures on his favorite 

 topic. In these years were finished those preliminary studies 

 which formed the basis of his life work. With Oken he dis- 

 cussed classification; with Dollinger, embryology; Von Martius 

 instructed him in the geographical distribution of plants; and 

 Schelling in philosophy. He published his first work at this 

 time and prepared two others. Owing to the death of Spix, 

 Agassiz was chosen by Von Martius, the Brazilian explorer, 

 to describe the fishes collected during his expedition. So well 

 was this done by Agassiz, then but twenty-one years of age, that it 

 gave him rank among the best naturalists of the time. 



